This one’s a complete 180 from what I’ve been posting up writing-wise, but I figured since I just closed my giveaway, I might as well put up an excerpt of one of the short stories that wound its way into an anthology!
This excerpt is from a children’s science fiction short, about a girl planning to replace her sister with a robot. I don’t think my own younger sister was very much amused when I told her what the story was about…
The Assessment declared that Shai was not a Genius Girl, so she had not been sent to the special academies at the center of the nation, even though she had started reading at three and knew her mathematics at six. She was not very good with tests, and The Assessment was a collection of different tests to make one long test that took hours and sometimes days to complete. Shai never finished The Assessment; she fell asleep on top of the mathematics problems after she’d doodled all over the back.
Papa had been more amused than disappointed, and when he received the results, he put up Shai’s mathematics page on one of his large corkboards like a certificate. “Cheer up, starshine,” Papa said when Shai felt all kinds of miserable. “Your assessor is a fool. If he’d been paying attention to your doodles instead, he’d have seen your brilliant ode to – are those penguins? Yes, I thought so – Sierpinski’s triangle. It’s a work of art, truly, my star.”
Story Notes: “Robot Sister Number Phi” is part of Dreaming Robot Press’ 2015 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, an anthology of middle grade science fiction filled with diverse and mostly female role models traipsing the far and in-between places of the galaxy. You can grab a copy of the ebook or paperback here.
Rafflecopter Giveaway
A couple weeks back, I hosted a giveaway for a copy of the 2015 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide. So congrats are in order to The Phantom Child for winning a copy. Once you give me your details, I’ll make sure the book makes it comfortably to your home. If it doesn’t head to Pakistan, that is.
Story and Somnomancy 
… I stopped reading here: but I figured since I just closed my giveaway, I might as well p” <_<
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LOL. Sorry not sorry.
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lskfjlasjdfsaljfd [censored by McNish]
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“Your assessor is a fool. If he’d been paying attention to your doodles instead, he’d have seen your brilliant ode to – are those penguins? Yes, I thought so – Sierpinski’s triangle. It’s a work of art, truly, my star.”
Oh. I continued reading. 😀 hahaaaaa good stuff
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One can kind of understand your sister’s feelings toward the plot. 😛 I’m amused you managed to squeeze in penguins into the story. But also obviously super excited about reading the whole book and your story!
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Lol, math and penguins in a story. Yep. That’s me >_>
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I love her father’s up beat attitude.
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Haha, me too! Thanks for reading 😀
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Yay for cool and understanding dad. This sounds like a very interesting story premise!
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Supportive dads are always awesome. And thanks!
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Love the excerpt, the tone was so much fun…and the story concept is very cool. Great snippet!
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Haha, I did have quite a bit of fun writing this story. It definitely reminded me how much of a geek I normally am. Thanks for reading!
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Beautiful details, including why Shai failed the test and her father’s reaction. Nice!
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Thanks! 🙂
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Many a genius has gone unappreciated by failing to fit in academic boxes. This promises to be an interesting read. Looking forward to the next one! Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks! And yes, as a teacher, I feel cleverness is not always justifiably assessed. I agree with Shai’s father in that respect!
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